A drive-by paintball attack may have cost a Southern California man the vision in his right eye — and could send three people to prison for the rest of their lives.

Michael Fejes, 65, took a paintball to the eye while walking near a Torrance elementary school on Sunday night.

Arrested were Tyler James Walters, 20, of Torrance; Lynn Emerson Johnson III, 20, of Hawthorne; and Gabriella Lorraine Semana, 18, of San Pedro. In Torrance Superior Court on Thursday, they pleaded not guilty to two counts of assault with a deadly weapon and single counts of aggravated mayhem and mayhem. Aggravated mayhem carries the potential of a life term in prison.

Judge Alan Honeycutt ordered the three held in county jail on $1 million bail and scheduled a bail review hearing for Tuesday. Defense attorneys for the three argued the bail should be lowered because none has a criminal record or has a family with the means to pay such a high bail. Semana cried when told she would spend the next several days, at least, in jail.

A complaint filed in Torrance court alleges Walters fired the paintball gun that hit Fejes. Police said someone in a green Isuzu yelled to attract his attention and then fired green and orange paint at him.

Michael Fejes may permanently lose vision in his right eye following a paintball gun attack Sunday evening in Torrance. Courtesy photo.

According to the complaint, one of the assault-with-a-deadly-weapon counts involves a second victim, 14-year-old Devon Schlagel. Devon’s mother, Kristi Schlagel, said he was walking with a friend to a Taco Bell on Sunday when the Isuzu pulled up next to them. Devon was hit in the mouth and covered in yellow paint. As the car sped away, his mother said, the assailants shot a girl crossing the street.

Devon’s lip swelled after the attack, but the Schlagels decided visiting an ER wasn’t worth the long wait. “He’s been coughing and complaining that he can taste the paint in his throat,” Kristi Schlagel said.

She was pleased with the news of the arrests.

“I don’t know what possessed them to do something like that, but I’m very outraged and something needs to happen because that is not OK,” said Schlagel, who lost a daughter who suffered from severe medical problems last year. “Someone hurting my children, I have really big issues with that.”

Fejes was expected to have eye surgery to try to restore his vision, but doctors delayed an operation while he takes antibiotics for an infection in his eye. Home from the hospital, Fejes has an appointment Monday at the UCLA Stein Eye Institute in Westwood, said his son, also named Michael. Fejes still cannot see from the eye.

In court, Walters, Semana and Johnson each appeared in the same clothes they were wearing when they were arrested. After their attorneys entered their not guilty pleas to the charges — which is routine at an arraignment — they asked the judge to decrease the bail, which was set according to a schedule set by the legislature.

Walters’ attorney, Deputy Public Defender Michael Ooley told the judge that Walters had never been arrested, was bipolar and suffered from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, which required medication. Walters was adopted as a child by his biological grandparents because of issues with his parents, Ooley said. A 2016 graduate of the Switzer Learning Center in Torrance, Walters is unemployed.

In an attempt to have Semana released on her own recognizance, her attorney, Jerome Haig, argued that she was “the most minimally involved in the case.” He argued that one of the men fired the paint gun while the other man drove, an inference that Johnson was at the wheel.

“She was, for lack of a better term, along for the ride,” he said. “She did nothing but watch.”

Deputy District Attorney Alexander Bott, who was assigned the case, will argue to keep the bail high during Tuesday’s hearing.

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